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sportsbeat Sportsbeat magazine available in hotels and clubs every Friday Reds accepting of A-League’s January jam Marcus Wilson It’s refreshing to see the lads from Adelaide United take their tough January scheduling on the chin. Six games in a month, three of which are happening in the space of a week, is enough to test even the most experienced professionals in Europe. A whinger would say it’s the A-League’s fault for not planning properly or that pay television programmers are greedy because they won’t allow two games to go head-to-head when there are ratings to be grabbed midweek. But you won’t hear any complain- ing from the Reds, at least publicly, about their busy run into finals. Coach Aurelio Vidmar is to be admired for his philosophical approach to it all. If you are going to be a ground-breaking Australian club then you’ve got to expect some consequences. “That’s whatwe’ve got,” Vidmar said of the frenetic A-League fixture. “We’ve been successful in terms of being able to play in the ACL and get to the final, we’ve been success- ful in terms of qualifying for the Club World Cup ... but obviously you can’t be running on three fronts when you are 10,000 miles away. “So obviously those games had to be postponed – where they could fit them, I have no idea. So they fit dates that the games need to be slotted into so we are happy with that. We are not going to worry about the fixtures, we know what’s it like, it’s probably not the ideal run-in coming to the end of the season but that’s whatwe’ve got and that’s because of our success.” United is thankful that is has kept injuries to a minimum this year and is optimistic it can continue to collect points tonight (Friday, January 9) against lowly Newcastle. “We are in good condition physically – that’s not a problem for us. It’s our mental approach and we’ve been quite good during the year doing that,” Vidmar said. “We’ve backed up in worst cases than this. We’ve gone to Tokyo and then gone the very following day to Sydney. Although we got beaten 3-0, wewere still able to go out and try and perform to the best of our ability.” It’s only slightly easier for the Reds next week with the South Australian side tackling the Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday before heading to Wellington the following Sunday for a game against the Phoenix. They are further clashes against potential finalists so there’s no doubt Adelaide will have to well and truly earn top spot. Be patient during our ills T Terry Jenner he Australian selectors, in par- ticular Andrew Hilditch, have copped a hammering in recent weeks over some of their “horses for courses selections”. Having had time to study the ins and outs this summer only a couple of their choices might come back to bite them on the foot. Let us not forget the record-break- ing Australian cricket team of the previous decade and half has almost been disbanded due to retirements of Shane Warne,Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Stuart MacGill. Add to that Matthew Hayden’s indifferent form, the injuries to Stuart Clark, Brett Lee, AndrewSymonds and Phil Jacques and you can see the dilemma the selectors have had to face. I am sure you can all remember when the Australian public felt we were so strong wecould field two Test teams and be ranked one and two. Not so long ago former Australian team coach John Buchanan made the suggestion that Australia had so many players who were being deprived of the opportunity to play Test cricket weshould “loan” some of these players to the less advantaged countries to make those teams more competitive. I am sure you can all remember when the Australian public felt wewere so strong we could field two Test teams and be ranked one and two. Both those views seem a bit ridicu- lous now, but at the time Australia seemed twice as good as the team running second so a little arrogance was to be expected. During that time being an Australian selector seemed to all and sundry to be a cushy job. After all, the team picked itself didn’t it? Now it is a trial and error time for Hilditch and his co-selectors David Boon, Merv Hughes and Jamie Cox. As Hilditch admitted recently, the panel has, and will make, some mistakes in the searchfor the team of the future.Young Phillip Hughes from New South Wales is knocking the door down just as Michael Clarkedid a few years ago.Thatis an easy selection for the future. In fact the batting built around Ricky Ponting, Clarke and Michael Hussey and Simon Katich looks to be in pretty good shape. Then and now: Mitchell Johnson (right) has developed into a frontline bowler in tha absence of Test great Glenn McGrath (left), but even he took time to reward the faith selectors placed in him during inconsistent spells. Brad Haddin still worries me a bit with his sometimes sloppy glove work, but there is no doubting his ability with the bat. It is the bowling department that always takes the longest to develop, and this is the major area of criticism leveled at Hilditch and co. TakeMitchell Johnson as an exam- ple. He was a passenger in Ponting’s team for ages due to his incapacity to bowl two consecutive balls on a good length. Some of us would have had him out of the side but the selectors stuck with him for a couple series, and now he is rewarding their faith. Johnson is a very good cricketer now. He is a genuine athlete. The likes of Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus provide the selectors with a conundrum but each will get his chance to cement a place just like Johnson did. It may not happen as quickly as we would like but it will happen. It is a case of trial and error, as I said before. The spin department is still a major area of concern and will remain so as long as containment is the reason for selection in that area. Nathan Hauritz has been under- bowled by Ponting for one simple reason, and that is he doesn’t have an attacking option in his game. I feel the best chance in the imme- diate future is Bryce McGain, the veteran Victorian leg spinner who is Photos: Fairfax currently recovering from shoulder surgery. AndrewMcDonald falls short as a Test match all-rounder, neither batting nor bowling ata high enough standard. He should, however, have a future as a limited-overs cricketer for Australia. As I said at the beginning of this article, I have had the opportunity to reflect on recent selections, and I think Hiditch and Co. have pretty much got it right. Now we need to be patient. January 9 - 15, 2009 The Independent Weekly 31 www.independentweekly.com.au